angelic moo

Secretary Raul Gonzalez' take on the present controversy regarding Gregory Ong's appointment to the Supreme Court is patently absurd. Ong , presently a Justice of the Sandiganbayan , may in fact be a Chinese citizen and, therefore, not qualified to sit in either the Sandiganbayan or the Supreme Court. Newsbreak reported that Gonzalez favored Ong's appointment: "You have to consider also the repercussions. What about all the cases that Justice Ong had decided already? Supposing you are a convict of Justice Ong you will certainly demand that there's a new trial and how many cases are those?" Gonzalez said. He said that for practical reasons, it would be better to accept Ong's contention that he is a natural born Filipino citizen considering the impact on the cases that he had ruled on and the possibility that those he had convicted could seek a new trial. But Gonzalez indicated that it is best to resolve the matter because "there will always be s

In the consolidated cases of BA-RA 7941 v. Comelec , GR No. 177271 and Rosales v. Comelec , GR No. 177314, the Supreme Court (see Jay B. Rempillo, SC Orders Comelec to Disclose Party-list Nominees’ Names , Court News Flash May 2007, May 3, 2007 ) resolved the issue regarding the release of the names of part-list nominees. In a 15-page unanimous decision, the Court En Banc said that the prohibition imposed on the COMELEC under section 7 of RA 7941 (Party-list System Act) is limited in scope and duration as it extends only to the certified list which the same provision requires to be posted in the polling places on election day. It further said that to stretch the coverage of the prohibition to the absolute is to read into the law something that is not intended. The Court followed Fr. Bernas' arguments (see previous blog) regarding constitutinal right to information. It held tat “In all, we agree with the petitioners that respondent Comelec has a constitutional duty to disclose an